GROUND·SIGNAL
INDEPENDENT FIELD INTELLIGENCE

What communities actually think about the projects planned around them.

We send researchers into the communities around major energy and infrastructure projects in development across Ireland, and turn what they find into proprietary field reports.

Request access
WHAT WE DO

We go to the ground.

Around each project we cover, our researchers spend time in the immediate community itself. They hold in-depth interviews and community conversations with residents, farmers, business owners and local representatives on every side of the question. Hearings and headlines capture the loudest voices on both sides. Our research reaches the people the process rarely hears, however they lean.

The result is a structured field report:

  • who actually shapes local opinion
  • which concerns are hardening and which are soft
  • what is verified and what is rumour
  • the researcher’s grounded estimate of the real balance of opinion
  • how the situation is likely to move

Each project is then monitored. Updates follow hearings, decisions and shifts in local sentiment.

Ground Signal is an independent market intelligence publication covering the local acceptance of energy and infrastructure projects. It is written for developers, local and national government, investors, lenders and suppliers who follow how projects are received locally while they are still in development.

METHOD

How a report is made.

RESEARCH
Independently initiated. Findings are not commissioned, reviewed or amended by any party to a project.
INTERVIEWEES
Selected by our researchers alone, across supporters, opponents and the undecided. Never proposed by developers or campaign groups.
GEOGRAPHY
Research starts with the nearest neighbours, townlands and villages, then works outwards. Every conversation is logged with its distance from the site.
EVIDENCE
Every claim is classified as direct observation, attributed statement or local rumour. The distinction is always shown.
SOURCES
Quoted anonymously by role. Named only with explicit consent.
WHAT A REPORT LOOKS LIKE

Inside a report.

Below is the layout of a Ground Signal report, taken from the latest issue.

GREENHILLS SOLAR, EAST CORK · 1 SEPTEMBER 2026 · 33 PAGES
SECTION
CONTENTS
PAGES
1. Introductory statement
Purpose, scope and how the fieldwork was done
2
2. Key findings
The headline picture, by distance band
2 to 3
3. Methodology
Bands, evidence classes, what the report is and is not
3 to 4
4. Findings by band
Inner, mid and outer band, each with its own confidence rating
4 to 5
5. Curated observations
Selected from the fieldwork and the planning file
5 to 7
6. The developer
Engagement history, contact attempts, developer transition, technical submissions, right of reply
7 to 8
7. The researcher’s estimate
One line per band, with confidence
8
8. Limitations
What the study can and cannot establish
8 to 9
9. Conclusions
What the evidence supports
9 to 10
Annex 1. Conversation records
Conversations, 1 to 17 August, redacted by agreement with each interviewee
10 to 24
Annex 2. The estimate in full
Band by band, with the researcher’s reasoning
25 to 26
Annex 3. Observations
Field notes and planning file observations
27 to 29
Annex 4. The area
Photographs and a map of where conversations took place
29 to 32
Annex 5. The developer’s account
Contact log and the developer’s published material
32 to 33
FOR RESIDENTS & INTERVIEWEES

If one of our researchers has spoken with you

Thank you. Conversations like yours are the core of our work. They carry the reality of a community, as it is rather than as others describe it, to the people making decisions about these projects.

Your words are quoted anonymously, by role only (“a local farmer”, “a business owner”), unless you have explicitly agreed to be named. Recordings and notes are used solely for accuracy and are never published or posted anywhere.

Ground Signal is independent. We are not engaged by the developer, the local authority, or any campaign for or against a project.

Questions about a conversation you've had with us: hello@groundsignal.eu

CONTACT

Enquiries

For subscriptions and access requests: